Once Upon a Dream
by Vinestar
Summary: Sybonae, who is part Quileute, stopped talking after her family was killed by vampires. When she is sent to live on the Reservation, she meets up with the wolves that saved her and the wolf that imprinted on her... Can he heel her broken heart?
1. Prologue

**Author's note: Hello! Vinestar here! This is my first fanfic, so please go easy on me. I like constructive criticism, but please no flames! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for Sybouney.**

**Prologue**

A scream. My scream.

The sight of two inhumanly beautiful people with blood-red eyes, narrowing in on me.

This is what I thought my last image would be, just as it had been for my family.

I clamped my eyes shut and waited for the attack, but nothing came. I opened one eye, and instead of seeing the two beautiful murderers, I saw four large wolves surrounding them. One of the wolves was looking straight at me and the others were growling at their prisoners.

Three of the wolves ran outside, ushering the two inhuman people with them. This left my house suddenly quiet- no more screams, growls, or cries.

I heard a whimper and felt a nudge on my shoulder. I looked up with wide eyes and saw the fourth wolf standing there. Even though I had just seen my entire family killed in front of me, when I looked at his eyes, I felt a sense of calmness wash over me.

The wolf was at least six feet tall and russet brown in color. He looked anxious as nosed my face. Maybe he thought I was going into shock. Which makes sense, because even I knew that wolves couldn't think like that.

The wolf whimpered again, which was the last noise I heard before I fainted.

**Yes, I know it's short, but it's just the prologue. I promise the first chapter will be a lot longer! And if this was confusing, the next chapter will solve that.**

**Please review!**


	2. Chapter 1 Moving

Thank you to everyone who reviewed

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I sat at my computer and I was like, Whoa! That's a lot of alerts… XD Anyway, I hope I got this up soon enough for you! Cyber-cookies to anyone who reviews this time!**

**I only own Sybonae and her family.**

Chapter one- Moving

Moving. It's nothing new to me- I've been alternating between houses since the night my parents and brother were killed two years ago.

"Sybonae, you're going to be living with your neighbors for a while now."

"Now that they're tired of you, you can come stay with us, if you want…"

"Good news! Your Aunt Sara has agreed to let you stay with her for the time being!"

That's what they say every time. Not very original, I know. It can be kind of hard to come up with excuses to get rid of a silent 16 year old after a while, though.

Yes, silent. After the "incident", I stopped talking. People think it's because I lost all of my family, but that's only part of it. I saw someone… _Something_ that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. More like dreaming or having nightmares about.

It's a pair of caring, dark brown eyes. I don't know who they belong to or when I saw them, but there hasn't been a day that they haven't popped up in my mind, regardless.

Anyway, back to moving. This time, I'm supposed to be leaving for my grandparent's house on some sort of Quileute Reservation. I don't quite understand that part because I'm only part Quileute. It won't matter, though- I'll only be there for a couple of months, tops.

"Sybonae, are you done packing?" my aunt Sara asked me, interrupting my thoughts.

I nodded.

"I'm really sorry about this… Sending you off to live with Grandpa on such short notice, and all. But he specifically requested that you go to the Reservation with him." She didn't sound sorry in the least bit. More of relieved.

Sara paused, like she was waiting for me to say something to her, which of course, I didn't.

"Well," she mumbled, edging out of the room. "I'll let you change and then come down to the kitchen so I can take you to the airport." And with that, she dashed out of my room.

I began shuffling through my suitcase for something that would be suitable to wear to… What town was I going to again? La Push? Yeah, that was it. The good, old rainy beach. I found a pair of light jeans and a sky blue v-neck sweater to match.

After I was dressed, I stood in front of the mirror, taking my time, just to annoy Sara.

The reflection looking back at me was a girl with heavily tanned skin and layered black hair that just barely reached her shoulders. Her eyes were the strangest part of the picture. They were a bright blue- they didn't go with anything else shown by the mirror. But, strangely enough, I liked them.

I sighed and went to grab my suitcase. "Walking" didn't quite describe the way I maneuvered my way down the stairs. It was more of a trudge combined with a stomp. I wanted to make Sara know exactly what I thought of her and this house before I left.

"Ready to go?" she asked when I reached the bottom of the staircase, and not a second later.

I just glared at her.

"Okay, then… Let's go," she muttered. I followed her to the garage and into the car.

The drive to the airport was silent- comfortable for me, not so for her. When we got there, I was handed my ticket and hugged briefly around the shoulders.

"When you land in Port Angeles, Grandpa will pick you up. It'll take a little over an hour to get to La Push. Okay?"

I nodded once, to show that I knew what she was saying.

"I'm going to miss you, Syb." Sure you are. Sara took off, not once looking back.

After I found my gate, I settled myself into one of the hard, uncomfortable chairs to wait. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander.

Instead of seeing the usual brown eyes, I saw blood red ones. And in replacement of the scream that generally accompanied my nightmare, I heard a cold, heartless laugh.

"Passengers in groups 1 and 2, please begin boarding, passengers in groups 1 and 2, please begin boarding," an overly cheery voice called from over the intercom, jolting me out of my thoughts.

I looked at my ticket- group 2. I stood up and made my way over to Ms. Too Happy and her desk to give her my ticket.

Once I was on the plane and seated, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remembered, the lady sitting next to me was shaking me awake.

"Excuse me, Miss… The plane landed and I didn't think you would want to be left here." She smiled.

I blinked, and then nodded briefly to her. Hastily, I grabbed my only bag and turned to walk off the plane.

Most of the people had already cleared away from the doors to go find their baggage, so my grandfather was easy to spot. He was relatively young and very tall- over 6 feet. His eyes were dark brown, almost black and his hair was a striking white color against his tanned skin. When he saw me, he smiled and waved.

"Sybonae! It's a pleasure to see you again!" he called, walking over to me. "I suppose you don't remember me much, do you?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Well, your Grandmother is waiting in the car, and she gets impatient pretty quick. We better get a move on. Here, let me get that for you," he said all in one breath, while taking my bag from me.

I watched him skeptically. He seemed much too hyper to be a grandfather. He started walking away, taking too large of steps. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked, turning back to me. "Come on!" He didn't wait to see if I would follow him or not; he took off again immediately. I had to run to catch up.

I started after him, following him to the parking lot. He led me to a small silver car that had a woman sitting in it. When she saw us coming, she opened her door and got out of the car.

"Oh, Sybonae!" she gushed. "I haven't seen you in _ages_! Do you remember me?"

I tilted my head to the side. I was fairly certain that I had never seen this woman before in my life.

"Well, no matter!" she continued. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to catch up back at the house."

When my luggage was tucked safely into the trunk and we were buckled in, the woman- my grandmother- didn't stop talking.

"Oh, Jim, don't you think Sybonae and I look so much alike?" Jim glanced at her and mumbled something that sounded like a "sure".

"Well, _I_ think we do! Don't you?" she asked, turning back to me. I shrugged. I guess we could look alike- only if she was several years younger. Her hair was a lot longer than mine- it reached well past her shoulders and it had already turned silver.

"What would you like for dinner?" She changed the subject again.

I just turned to stare out the window, hoping she would get the hint that I wanted to be left alone. She didn't.

"How about pasta? That sounds good, doesn't it, Jim?"

"Yep. Definitely. Pasta's great." His tone was very sarcastic which caused my grandmother to glare at him.

"Sybonae, tomorrow morning you'll be starting school at the Quileute high school as a junior. I went out and got all of your books and school supplies the other day, so there's no need to worry about that."

I closed my eyes, giving her a bigger hint to shut up.

"And you'll be enrolled in the sign language class so you'll be able to communicate with us."

"Martha…" This was Jim speaking. "Didn't we go over this? She can talk. And she'll do so when she feels like it. There's no need to make her feel pressured to learn sign language."

I sat up in my seat and tapped on Martha's shoulder. She wasn't the first one to come up with this brilliant plan. When she turned around, I signed to her to leave me alone.

"Oh. Well, I guess she already knows some sign language, then…"

Jim rolled his eyes. "Of course she does. How many other people do you think have tried to get her to talk that way?"

Martha didn't respond to that and she kept quiet for the rest of the ride. Jim was the first one to speak, 45 minutes later.

"We're home," he stated.

And we were. Well, I was for now at least.

**Please let me know how you liked it! Remember- cyber-cookies… And the more reviews, the faster the next chapter gets up!**

**Vine**


	3. Chapter 2 20 Questions

**Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for all the reviews! I love them! This update took a little longer than I expected- I had finals to study for, so I didn't have a chance to type much. Sorry about that.**

**As you know, I only own Sybonae and her family.**

Chapter 2- 20 Questions

The house was small and homely. It was two stories high with three bedrooms- apparently, my mom and Sara had lived here when they were growing up. The master bedroom was on the first floor, the other two on the second. There were two bathrooms, one kitchen, and a laundry room. That about sums it up. What else is there in a house?

I'll tell you what. A group of three giant shirtless boys who were devouring every edible thing in the fridge. And if that isn't weird enough, they greeted my grandparents by name.

"Yo, Jim! You're out of pizza!" one of them called when we unlocked the door. "But don't worry- the pasta's safe," he snickered.

"It's nice to see you too, Quil. Might I inquire as to why you are in my house?" Jim asked with mock anger.

"Emily kicked us out. Something about needing enough food for when Jake gets back," he answered nonchalantly. The three strangers took this moment to notice me standing in the doorframe.

"Who's the newcomer?" the one to the right of Quil asked.

"This is out granddaughter Sybonae," Martha stated matter-of-factly. "She'll be living here for a while. Sybonae, this is Paul, Quil, and Embry. Don't mind them. They like to stay here when they get kicked out of their own houses." She rolled her eyes.

"Hey!" Paul protested. "We don't get kicked out! We just get bored when there's no work to do!"

It looked like there was something else he wanted to say, but Martha beat him to it. "Embry, is it true that Jacob's coming home?"

Embry glanced in my direction. "Yeah… He… sent us a letter last night… explaining everything. It'll only be a couple of days tops till he gets back." Embry grinned.

"That's great!" Martha was excited again. I was beginning to think she had multiple personality disorder. "I'll call Sue and Emily and find out if there's going to be a welcome home party. We'll need plenty of food, of course."

"That was the plan. When he… sends us another letter, we'll let you know," Embry replied, looking my way again.

"Good, good. Now, Sybonae, let's get you to your room." She motioned for me to follow her. We left Jim and the three boys downstairs.

"Here we are!" Martha proclaimed when we reached the first door at the top of the stirs. "This room is yours. There's a Jack-and-Jill bathroom connecting it to the other room." She paused to see if I would say something. "Well, let me know if you need anything. Dinner's in an hour."

After Martha left, I opened the door to my new room. As I stepped inside, I took in my surroundings. The walls were painted light blue and the floor had a soft white carpet covering it. Pushed up against one wall was my bed. It was covered in a handmade quilt made to match the walls. Across from the bed was a desk with all of my brand new school supplies on it. Joy, oh joy. I unpacked what little clothes I had and put them into the only dresser in the room. When that was finished, I still had a good 45 minutes before dinner was ready, so I decided to take a shower to clean up from my flight.

I grabbed a bag with soap and shampoo and a change of clothes to wear after the shower. The bathroom was all white with tile floors.

I took my time in the shower, knowing that I wouldn't have anything to do after I was done. When I was sure my hair had been washed thoroughly, I shut off the water. After I dried off, I put on a pair of light baggy sweat pants and a tank top. I was supposed to feel at home, right? Then why not walk around in my pajamas? Besides, I was tired.

On my way out of the bathroom, I glanced at the clock. I still had ten minutes, so I started down the stairs to see if the guests were still here. I stomped down the stairs a little loudly so that if they were talking about me, which they probably were, they would know that I was coming.

"My! You look comfy," Martha exclaimed, smiling at me. Apparently, she didn't seem to mind my wardrobe. "The others are in the living room. I'm sure they won't mind if you join them."

I turned around and walked back down the hall the opposite direction I came to where the door was. They were all scattered around the room on various pieces of furniture- some on the couch, the others on chairs. There was a TV in the room, but it wasn't turned on. I could barely hear their voices; they were rushed and serious. The atmosphere had changed significantly since earlier this evening.

"Sybonae," Jim said, looking up. "I didn't see you there. Come on in and join us."

I walked over to where they were cluster. Someone- Embry, was it? – whistled as I passed him. I ignored it and sat down.

"So, Syb," Quil, the one on the couch, said. "Is it all right if I call you that? Syb?" I shrugged. Normally I wouldn't have responded, but for some reason, I felt calmer around these people. Quil smiled. "We're going to play a game. Twenty questions. You don't have to say the answer, just sign something back or nod or something. Okay?"

I nodded hesitantly. I didn't particularly like having the spotlight on me, but it would be interesting to see what type of questions they came up with.

"Great! Here it goes. First question: What's your favorite color?"

I thought about it for a second, and then pointed to my shirt. It was light pink.

Quil smiled again. "Really? I like green, myself. Anyway. Moving on. Paul? What's the next question?"

"Um… What's your favorite food?" Paul asked.

All four of the people around me groaned. "Very original, Paul," they said in unison.

He glared at them and turned back to me. I shrugged. I wasn't a picky eater- almost anything would do.

"My turn," Embry stated. "What's your favorite animal?"

This one took no thought. I slowly stood up out of my seat and went to the coffee table where there was a stack of paper and a pen. I took the pen and began drawing out a picture of a wolf. For some reason, ever since I could remember, I've always had a thing for wolves.

I finished my picture and handed it him. He looked at it for a second and began to laugh. "Hey, look at this, guys! I think she's going to like here on the Res! It's not like we don't have enough of these here." Paul and Quil laughed with him, but my grandfather glared at him.

"Sometimes I think you're just asking for trouble," he mumbled.

Martha came into the room now. "Dinner!" she announced. The three teenagers jumped up with enthusiasm and followed her to the kitchen. Jim and I went a little slower.

"You'll learn pretty quickly that Martha likes pasta a _lot._ That's about all she ever cooks. Pasta with pesto, pasta with fish, pasta with chicken… I swear, sometimes it seems likes she's in love with it."

Quil, Paul, and Embry were already seated at the table, as was Martha. Jim and I took our seats before we could get yelled at.

"There's plenty to go around. Help yourselves!" Martha said while passing around a humongous bowl of macaroni. After everyone had filled their plates, the questioning began again. The questions were a little bit more serious now than they had been before, though.

"So," Embry began as soon as he swallowed a mouth full of food. "You're 16, right? A junior?"

I nodded once.

"We're juniors, too. Fun year." He rolled his eyes. "Do you have your driver's license yet?" Nope. My head turned from side to side.

"Don't bother getting one," Paul called from the other side of the table. "They're way overrated. And if you're like us, you'll never end up using it, anyway." He laughed. I felt like I was missing an inside joke.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Quil asked. I just stared at him. That question was not worthy of an answer. "Okay, okay! I was just wondering!" he mumbled.

"Ooh, does Quil like her?" Embry teased.

"No! I already have a girlfriend, remember?"

"Gee, how could I have forgotten?" Embry's tone was very sarcastic. "All you ever do is talk about Claire!" Again, it felt like there was something I w as missing.

"Oh, shut up," said a blushing Quil who was now very interested in his plate.

The questions kept coming at me throughout the rest of dinner- What was my favorite subject? When was my birthday? Had I ever been camping before? I answered most of them with a shake or nod of my head, but in the case of my favorite subject, I let them list all the classes out until they hit the right one- English.

When dinner was finished, I helped Martha clear the table before starting towards the stairs.

"Well, we should probably be off now," Embry called, heading to the door. "We'll let you know tomorrow about when Jacob's getting back."

"Sounds good! I'm sure Sybonae will want to meet him too. Just let us know when," Martha replied while walking with the guests to the front room. She opened the door and let them out. "Well, Sybonae, this is what its like at our house. Full of chaos with all of the young ones running around. Although sometimes there's peace and quiet, it's not very often."

This should be very interesting, then. Chaotic houses full of teenage boys who seemed to eat at least twice their body weight in food at the dinner table. Very interesting, indeed.

**Okay, so in case you were wondering, Jim in one of the Tribal Elders and he used to be a werewolf. That's why everyone likes to hang out at his house.**

**Please review!**

**-Vine**


	4. Chapter 3 Brown Eyes

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Jacob gets introduced in this chapter- yay! By the way, in the art class, the desks are big rectangular desks that hold 6-8 people. Okay? Two people sit on each side.**

Chapter 3- Brown Eyes

My first night with my grandparents was very… interesting. I met three new people and as it seemed, they were determined to be my friends and to get me to talk.

When I woke up the next morning at six AM, I quickly got ready for school, throwing on a pair of jeans and another light sweater. I brushed my teeth and headed downstairs for breakfast.

I was greeted with a cheery, "Good morning!" from Martha and a not so happy grumble from Jim.

"We have eggs and toast on plate for you," Martha said, pointing to the counter. I grabbed the plate and found a fork. After I sat down and began to eat, Martha started speaking again.

"The high school is only a few blocks away. We can drive you there today so you know the way, but tomorrow, you might have to walk, if that's okay with you," she said. I nodded to show that I didn't mind walking.

"Okay. Well then, when you're finished eating, Jim will take you to school."

"Huh?" Jim was obviously still partly asleep and it didn't look like he enjoyed being pulled into the conversation.

"I have to call Sue and Emily… And since you're not doing anything this morning, I thought that you could take her to school. Please?"

Jim glared at her for a few moments until he gave in. "Fine," he sighed. "Are you done?" he asked me.

I stood up and put my plate in the sink, signaling that I was ready to leave. I followed Jim to the garage and into the car.

He was silent for most of the ride, until we reached the school. "Good luck," he muttered. "We'll pick you up at 3:30." I could tell he was not a morning person.

Armed with just a book bag, I made my way to the school's office. I walked inside the room that had a sign above the door that said "front office".

The room was large and spacious. Sitting behind one of the desks was a woman who looked to be in her late 40's. When I reached the area she sat at, she looked up from her computer screen.

"May I help you?" she asked. I just stared at her.

"Yes?" she tried again. I sighed and got a pencil and paper out from my bag to write my name down on.

"Oh, yes! You're grandmother came by the other day to pick up school supplies! I'm guessing you want your schedule?"

No reply.

"She mentioned this, too," the lady mumbled. "Well, here it is. Sybonae Crest."

I took the paper with my schedule from her and turned to go back outside to get to my first period class.

I was looking at the floor when I opened the door, so of course I didn't see the boy the standing there, getting ready to step inside. I walked right into him. At first I thought he was Quil or Embry or Paul, because of how tall he was, but when I looked up, I could tell I hadn't seen him before.

"Hey, sorry about that," he said in a dull voice. "I didn't see you…" his voice trailed off.

I was staring into the brownest pair of eyes I had ever seen before. But, the thing was, I had seen them before. Somewhere in a dream or a nightmare…

"A-are you okay?" he stuttered. I nodded once, not taking my eyes off of his.

We stood like that- his hands on my shoulders, meant to steady me, and my hands tightly clutching my new schedule- staring at each other. I didn't know how long we stayed like that, or why. All I knew was that I couldn't move.

It was a few minutes before some other people came up behind the stranger, breaking our trance.

"Jacob!" they shouted. "Long time no see! We thought we'd catch you here," they said. It was Quil and Embry.

"And we see you've met our little friend, Sybonae," they added.

"Sybonae," Jacob whispered. So this was who everyone had been making a big deal about the other night.

"Yep," Quil said. "Her grandparents are the Shardey's. She just moved here."

While Jacob took this fact in, I used it as my getaway. I ducked under his arm and started running towards the parking lot. I looked back briefly, but he wasn't following me. He was at the same place that I had left him, staring after me.

When I was safely ducked behind a long row of cars, I looked at my watch. I still had 10 minutes to make it to my first class- sign language.

I refused to think about this Jacob person, or why he had such a hypnotic affect on me as I walked, rather shakily, to class.

The classroom was relatively empty when I reached it. The teacher looked up as I walked to his desk.

"You must be Sybonae," he said. "You're grandmother came here yesterday to tell us about you. I'm Mr. Greene. You can have that seat over there," he said, gesturing over to an empty desk by a window.

I hurried over and took my seat before the classroom started filling up with other students.

I chose to stare out of the window instead of paying attention to the teacher's lecture after the bell rang. Not many people started at me- either they hadn't noticed me yet or they had already been informed of my "condition".

Mr. Greene ignored my for the most part, until he gave me my homework. He mumbled a "good luck" as he passed by.

Second and third (English and history) periods went by with no news worthy events happening, either.

Lunch, however, was a different story.

I felt around in my purse for some money while I was in line to buy my food when I was him again.

He was openly staring at me while I was paying for my food and while I sat down a solitary table. I purposefully sat with my back to him so I wouldn't get caught in another staring contest.

Thankfully, lunch went by fast. No one came to talk to me. I think most of the students were afraid to get too close.

When I finished eating, and not a second later, I took off for my next class.

None of the teachers were interested in me, or made me introduce myself until the last period of the day.

Art.

The art teacher, Mrs. Welsma, decided to introduce me to her class.

"Class, this is Sybonae. Our new student. She's living with her grandparents right now. Be sure to make her feel welcome."

I didn't particularly like this teacher right now; she was the only one who had introduced me in front of everyone.

"All we're doing right now is free-day. So you can just draw if you would like to. You can sit over there by Jacob Black," she continued and handed me a sketch book.

My head shot around at the name. Here he was again. Mr. Brown Eyes, sitting there, perfectly still.

I reluctantly went to sit at the only open chair left- the one next to him. I avoided his eyes and looked around the table. There was Embry, Quil, Paul, and two other people I didn't know sitting there, too.

"Hey there, Syb!" Quil called when I sat down. "This is Jared and Kim. Kim and Jared, this is Sybonae. And you've already met Jake, haven't you?"

"We've met…" Jacob answered for me. "Briefly." I just shrugged, allowing that and tuned the conversations out.

I turned away from them and opened my sketch book. I got one of my pencils and began to draw. I didn't pay attention to what coming out on the paper- I was running on autopilot.

When the class was just about over, I looked at my finished work. It was a huge russet colored brown wolf standing defensively in front of a girl a few years younger than me.

I didn't notice how quiet my table had gotten at first, until I heard someone ask me, "May I see that?"

Surprised, I looked up. It was Jacob. He was reaching out for my picture. I handed it to him. He examined it for a few seconds before giving it back to me.

"That's very impressive," he said. "Have you ever seen a wolf like that before?"

I shrugged, not looking up at his eyes. I think he was going to say something else, but the bell rang, saving me.

I gathered my books, shoving them into my book bad, and started quickly for the door.

When I got outside, I saw Jim's car waiting for me. I rushed over to it and as I opened the door, I heard a voice call my name.

"Sybonae! Wait!" Jacob called from several feet behind me.

I turned in my seat, after I had shut the door, to watch him. Embry had joined him, and it now looked like he was trying to get Jacob to go back to the classroom where Quil and Paul were waiting.

"Meet someone new?" Jim asked me, noticing my distraction

I turned back around to face forward and shrugged. He chuckled. The rest of the ride back to his house was silent until we pulled into the garage.

"We're throwing a little party in an hour or two, so you need to get ready for that. Martha can give you more details if you want." He rolled his eyes.

I nodded and got out of the car to head into the house.

**Okay. Chapter 3 is done! Yay! Question: Would you guys like it if I just stuck with Sybonae's point of view or if I changed every couple of chapters and did Jacob's POV, too? Let me know in a review, please!**

**-Vine**


	5. Chapter 4 Meeting Again

**I'm so sorry for taking so long to update! Here's my excuse: We've been having Internet problems, so we decided to reconnect the wires in the attic to the computer. Well, when we were doing that, they broke! They just snapped in half! So I have been computerless for a few days… Yeah. But I've been writing like crazy to make up for it!**

**By the way, in the last chapter, it was Friday at school. So she doesn't have any school tomorrow. Because it's a Saturday. Yay.**

Chapter 4- Meeting Again

Instantly when I walked into the house, Martha literally attacked me. Not with a knife or anything- just with questions and orders.

"Sybonae! Welcome home!" she shouted from the kitchen. "Come on inside!"

I followed her voice through the halls to get to the kitchen.

"This is Sue Clearwater and Emily Young. We're getting ready for a welcome home party tonight. We're the designated chefs." She said the last part like it was her life's calling to be one of these "designated chefs".

Sue walked over and shook my hand. She was several years older than Emily but younger than Martha. Emily stayed where she was, but smiled and said a quiet, "Hello."

It took me a minute to notice her scar, but when I did, I didn't stare. There were three long claw marks that stretched down the right side of her face. It looked like something like a bear had attacked her.

"See how sunny it is outside?" Martha piped up. "The weatherman on the television set said that it wasn't going to rain until tomorrow morning. Isn't that great? That means we can spend the evening on the beach."

I was putting by book bag away, since I didn't have school tomorrow, in a shoe closet so it wouldn't get in the way of anybody, when Martha called me back to the kitchen.

"You need to go change. Do you have anything nice to wear? Like a sundress?" she asked.

I thought for a minute before nodding and turning to go back up the stairs. In my room, I searched through my drawers before finding what I was looking for. It was a knee-length baby blue dress with spaghetti-straps.

When I was dressed and had brushed my hair out again, I went back down to the kitchen.

"Ooh, let's see!" Sue Clearwater exclaimed.

So I stuck my arms out diagonally above my head and spun around.

"Very nice," Emily noted. "He'll love it."

"Yes," Martha agreed. "He will." Sue was nodding with her.

He? He who? They all knew something I didn't and despite the curious looks I have them, they let the subject drop.

"Sybonae, we're just about finished here, so why don't you just have a seat," Emily said to me.

I sat down at one of the dinner table seats and watched them finish up, still wondering about whom "he" was.

It was only five or ten more minutes before all of the food was cooked and stored in individual dishes, ready for transportation.

"Sybonae, will you give us a hand with these?" Martha asked, her arms full of plates.

I hopped up from my chair to get an armful of different pastas.

"Where's Jim?" Sue asked as we left through the front door.

"He's supposed to be meeting up with us later," Martha answered. "He didn't want to have to help us."

It didn't take long for the four of us to reach our destination. It was an open lot of sand, surrounded by ocean and forest. Driftwood and lawn chairs were scattered around the area, as were tables, waiting to be filled with our food.

After we had the dishes placed to suit Martha's taste, I looked around. Only a few other people had already arrived so far.

One was an older man in a wheelchair who had a huge grin plastered to his face. He was talking to someone younger, about Emily's age.

I decided to take a seat on one of the lawn chairs. I fidgeted nervously in my seat- I couldn't shake the feeling that something strange was going to happen soon.

More people I didn't recognize were arriving now. I stayed at my chair until Emily found me.

"I want you to meet my fiancée, Sam," she said, taking me over to the man I had seen earlier, the one talking to the one in the wheelchair.

"Sybonae," he said. I hesitantly reached my hand out to meet his outstretched one. "It's nice to see you again." I tilted my head to the side, not understanding what he meant.

"I guess you wouldn't remember me, specifically. Anyway. Do you know anyone here?"

I shook my head. I was surprised at how easy it was to be myself around the people here.

"Look who just arrived," he mumbled suddenly, more to himself than to me. "It looks like someone wants to talk to you. I'll leave you alone now." Sam took off with Emily in the direction that she had come in.

I looked around, trying to find whom he was talking about. It took a moment, but I found him. Them.

Embry was waving at me and weaving his way through the now crowded beach. Following him was Quil.

"Hey, Syb! Fancy meeting you here," he said with mock formality.

Quil rolled his eyes. "We were on our way to pick up Jake, since, you know, this is his welcome home party. Do you want to come with us?"

I shrugged and started following them, walking away from the crowd.

"Did anyone tell you about Jake?" Embry asked. I shook my head- I had no idea why we were having this party.

"He ran away a few months ago," Embry explained. 'Someone he… Really liked got married to someone he hated."

"Yeah, and Jake didn't believe us when we said someone better, someone like you, would come along." This time Quil was speaking.

"But, anyway, we're almost to his house," Embry finished. "Don't let him know where we're going, all right? It's supposed to be a surprise."

I pretended to lock my lips, showing that I wouldn't say anything. This caused them to laugh.

"Here's the house," Embry said as we walked up to a small one story house on the corner of the street.

We continued up the pathway to the front door, where Quil proceeded to ring the door bell over and over again.

I heard a loud thump and then someone yelling.

Suddenly, Jacob was at the door, yanking it open.

"I'm here!" he shouted. "What do you want?!" He was only wearing a pair of cut-off jeans. It looked like he just woke up. I blushed when I saw him.

Quil grinned at my reaction. "We came to kidnap you," he joked. "It looks like you're in need of wardrobe help, though." He shoved Jacob out of the doorway to make a walkway into the house for us. "Come on in!" he said, ignoring Jacob's protests.

I followed the three inside to a cramped kitchen.

"Go put on a shirt, Jake," Embry told him. "Something nice. Hurry up, now."

Jacob rolled his eyes, but followed the orders. In less than a minute, he came back to us, wearing a dark blue button down shirt.

"So where exactly are you taking me?" he asked.

"The beach!" Quil and Embry answered together. "Where else?"

Jacob thought about this as we left his house. "Does this have anything to do with why my dad left with Sam an hour ago?"

They were silent for a minute before Quil asked in a much too innocent voice, "Why would you think that?"

Jacob groaned, but he didn't say anything else until we reached the beach.

"There are so many people," he mumbled.

We walked and Jacob trudged to the group of gathering people. When we were close enough to them, they started clapping and cheering.

"Welcome home!" everyone was saying.

Jacob covered his grimace with a smile and whispered to us, "When this is over, you guys are so dead." The two boys just laughed.

Since this was Jacob's party, he had to go around and greet everyone by name and thank them for coming. This only took about an hour, since everyone seemed to have known where he had run away to, so there was no explaining to do.

Everyone but me.

I spent the hour with Embry, since Quil was dragged away by a little girl named Claire, and he showed no signs of returning soon.

"I'm not really one for parties," Embry told me, his mouth full of food. "I prefer to hang out and eat." I could tell.

While Embry was busy stuffing his face, I watched Jacob walk around, saying hi to everyone.

We caught eye contact once, and when that happened, we could only look away when someone else distracted us. We probably stood like that, staring at each other, for a good five minutes, before Sam and Emily were shaking Jacob's shoulder to get his attention.

After that, I chose to only stare at him when he wasn't looking. Embry seemed to notice, though.

"So. You seem to like Jake," he noted.

I glanced at his face. He seemed truly curious. I shrugged. I wasn't too sure how I felt about him right now.

"I think he likes you," he hinted.

Another shrug.

"Just be careful, okay? Don't get hurt. And don't hurt him." What was that supposed to mean?

Thankfully, he couldn't say anything else, because Jacob was coming over our way. He sank down beside us onto the piece of driftwood we were sitting on.

"I hope you know, Embry, that I am never going to forgive you," he mumbled.

"I know. And that's why we're friends." Embry grinned. "What should we do now? We have plenty of time, and so little to do. You know what? I think I'm gonna go hit on those freshman over there. They're pretty cute." He stood up and hurried over to a group of girls, huddled together, watching him.

"Um. Right then. Embry's weird," Jacob said when Embry turned around and gave him a meaningful look.

I nodded.

We were silent for a few minutes, just watching the waves roll continuously in front of us. The sky was darkening, so it was almost the same shade of the rolling water.

"I can't take this any longer," Jacob said, breaking the silence. "I need to tell you, but I can't… I don't know what to do!" He dropped his head into his hands.

The sight was so heart wrenching, I couldn't just sit there. I moved closer to him on the driftwood and placed my hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

Instantly, I felt a spark shoot through my skin. I'm sure he did too, because when he looked up, the expression of shock on his face must have matched mine. I pulled my hand back, but didn't move away.

"Thanks," he whispered.

We sat together for a while, oblivious to what was going on around us before Martha and Jim came to get me.

"It's getting late," they said. "And you'll get plenty of time to see the Blacks tomorrow. We invited them over to dinner."

I stood up, forcing myself not to turn around for one last glance at Jacob, and followed my grandparents as we started back home.

Who were the Blacks? Martha said that she'd invited them to dinner. I shrugged to myself, figuring that I would find out later.

After we were back at the house, and I was in bed, I thought back to the night I had just had. Specifically, the part with Jacob.

I couldn't figure out what it was about him that was so… Welcoming. Almost like a magnet. And the spark when I had touched his shoulder. It had been two years since I had spoken to anyone, so why was I opening up now? Back when I did talk to people, I was fairly sure that no one had ever sparked me before.

I fell asleep that night with my thoughts a jumbled mess. Maybe that's why, for the first time since my family died, I didn't have nightmares.

**This chapter is longer than the others to make up for the lack of updating. So could you please review? Please? Something big happens in the next chapter, and if you review, I'll get it up faster! -Vine**


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